For those of you that have read my blog for awhile, you know I’ve never romanticized weight loss, nor have I ever promoted diets. For 20 years, I have always maintained that a healthy weight is a by-product of a healthy lifestyle, and the scale does not necessarily dictate good health. In all my years of business, I would imagine that the average number of diets my clients have experienced go well beyond 50. Yet with all of those diets, none ever stuck. In fact, the only folks I know that have experienced long-term success, are those who made the decision to change their lifestyle, for good. Hmmm. I really struggle with the success of the diet industry given the poor results. I really don’t get it. If I bought a product and it broke after one use, I’d bring it back. I’d probably try another figuring that maybe that particular one was defective. But if the second one didn’t work, I’d never use that product again. Sure, there are different diets so perhaps there is the hope that maybe one of them will be the winner. The one constant with every diet is that it’s one dimensional, i.e. weight loss only. So for most people, once they lose the weight, there is nothing is place to support the changes they’ve made and keep them motivated enough to sustain the weight loss. Additionally, and most important to me, real life skills to replace unhealthy habits are rarely taught yet they are mandatory to sustain weight loss.

This past summer, more than usual, people were asking me about diets. Given my business, I always have people asking me, “which diet is the best?” I always respond with, “Whatever diet works for you and keeps you healthy.” As I started seeing more and more advertisements about weight loss, “Lose 15 pounds in 15 days” I thought more deeply about my efforts with clients to assist them in creating their “own” diet. I realized that’s a really hard thing to do because most people are looking for fast and easy, it’s the way of the world today, people want change NOW, not tomorrow, not next week, NOW.

I talked to a few clients and asked them what aspects of a diet “pulled them in” and what elements prevented them from keeping their weight loss efforts consistent? The aspects that were most helpful was the structure of a nutrition program. In other words, it’s sort of like personal training. People love training because they don’t have to think about the exercise, they show up, I train them and they leave. They didn’t have to give any thought to how the program was laid out, the method behind it, etc. They just did what they were told. It’s the same thing with a diet, you’re told what to eat, when to eat it and you don’t have to think about it. I get it, and like you, it is nice not to have to think about what you’re going to eat next or what exercise comes next in your repertoire. However, the truth is that like a bike with training wheels, eventually you’re going to have take the training wheels off and go it alone. Same with weight loss, eventually you need to LEARN what you need to do in order to gain independence and sustain your efforts. That is why people shift from diet, to diet, to diet, they never LEARN what they need to do forever, for the long-term.

The elements that many people said were missing from diet success was accountability. In other words, when there were challenges with a diet, there was no one they could go to and ask questions. If the scale crept up, who was going to let them know that as long as they’re consistent, they will be fine, weight fluctuates, it’s normal. When struggling with a nutrition program, if there is no one standing in your corner cheering you on and helping you weed through what makes sense for you and what doesn’t, success is highly unlikely. One of the reasons my business remains strong is that I have created a positive, educated source of accountability for my clients.

With all the this information, I finally decided this past fall to put all that I have learned over 20 years together and created a program for my clients that offers all the elements necessary for successful, long-term weight loss and healthy living. It’s funny, necessity stimulates innovation and I know for me, my desire to help my clients feel better, live stronger and more confidently was the secret behind creating one of the most successful programs I’ve ever put together for my clients. But more than anything, my clients are winning not only at the weight loss piece, but the LEARNING piece and for that, I am thrilled. Finally, I can offer something to my clients that helps them achieve the weight loss that they so desperately seek, yet all along they are learning what’s necessary to not only lose the weight, but to sustain it, and that my friends is the real secret to success!

I hope you can join me on December 8th or January 5th at 7:00 p.m. at my studio as I share the program that’s helping people discover an alternative to diet hopping. My goal has always been to EDUCATE people on sensible weight loss and how to implement a program that works for their lifestyle and their personal goals. It’s helping people realize that change is possible AND sustainable, you just have to be ready and have the right source of support.